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Post by sungod2020 on Aug 27, 2022 12:24:49 GMT -5
For those of you who may or may not know, Ludvig Borga was brought into the World Wrestling Federation in the summer of 93 to wreak havoc on the midcard scene. Hailing from Helsinki, Finland, his biggest gripes was with the United States and their perceived deficiencies such as environmental laws and their educational system.
At Summerslam, he defeated Marty Jannetty and got a midcard push that fall. His highest profile was ended Tatanka's 18 month undefeated streak and put the Native American out of action for a few months. To avenge his fallen friend, "Made in The USA" Lex Luger(who he called Lex Luger) had feud with him(on the house show circuit, where Luger won all the matches).
Another moment in Borga's WWF run is when he seemingly won the IC championship from Razor Ramon but the win was overturned and the match resumed because Razor's foot was on the bottom rope. Borga pinned Razor again after Shawn Michaels hit Razor with a title belt, but the decision was reversed and Borga disqualified, thus strickening said title reign from the record books.
On January 17, 1994, Halme injured his ankle in a match with Rick Steiner, forcing the WWF to cancel future plans for the Borga character that included a scheduled appearance at the 1994 Royal Rumble and a proposed WrestleMania match against Earthquake. Halme left the company soon after, thus making his whole run/push a waste.
My question is, if he stayed healthy, how would such a thing be booked? They obvious had big plans for the Finnish Powerhouse, yet this would be Earthquake's first match in the WWF since he left a year ago, so a job to Borga wouldn't make sense. However, Borga was considered a new talent who they wanted to keep pushing, so him jobbing to Tenta would kill his momentum, unless he got his win back shortly thereafter.
It would've been irrelevant for either side anyway since Quake left the company a month later due to injury. If they both stayed, they could've built a match up to Summerslam as a "giant vs. giant" type of match. But before such a thing is possible, Borga should've wrapped up his feud with Tatanka first, which was headed that way for their match at the 1994 Royal Rumble, but was cut short due to an abrupt injury(he was replaced by previous nemesis Bam Bam Bigelow).
The best way to do it (IMO) is have Tatanka defeat him in their scheduled match, and to go by 50/50 booking(and to regain his momentum) is to have Borga eliminate him in the Rumble match, thus quietly ending the feud. Have him eliminate two more guys(such as Greg Valentine and Bob Holly, maybe even assist in Mabel's elimination) before falling victim to either Bret Hart or Lex Luger(or both) after lasting over 20 minutes. This would also establish him as a credible threat.
For Wrestlemania X, instead of throwing him in a match with a returning Earthquake, have him face the 1-2-3 Kid and have him put up good fight showcasing his underdog spirit before succumbing to him after 10 minutes. Then you can build him towards his feud with Quake. If Quake stays long enough to make to it Summerslam, have Borga defeat him in a 15 minute hard-hitting bout, before going to WCW shortly thereafter(as he did in our timeline).
As far as what to do with Borga afterwards, that's where I'm drawing a blank. Basically him defeating The Quakester and running him out of the WWF(as can be the kayfabe reason for him no longer being there) can be used as making him a legit powerhouse and see where it goes from there.
But yeah, I do feel that Ludvig Borga vs. Earthquake at Wrestlemania X would be booking themselves into a corner.
Thoughts?
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Post by jason1980s on Aug 27, 2022 12:30:15 GMT -5
That one has always intrigued me, even back then in 1994. I'm sure Bruce would have an answer as to what the plans were but can we really believe it?
I can't see Ludvig losing and I can't see Quake losing either. They should have booked Adam Bomb all along in case Ludvig couldn't still make it. But Ludvig versus Bomb wasn't as good a matchup. I also wonder why Ludvig didn't come back after his injury healed, like did WWF just release him or did he flake out and leave.
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Post by moonpies88 on Aug 27, 2022 13:00:18 GMT -5
Ludvig vs Luger I bet would have happened
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Post by fortknox on Aug 27, 2022 13:07:02 GMT -5
I've always thought that what killed Tatanka as a babyface wasn't losing his undefeated streak but, the fact he never got revenge on Borga for it.
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Post by ThankGodForSidJustice on Aug 27, 2022 13:42:54 GMT -5
I always figured Fatu ended up getting Borga's role in the 1994 Rumble. He looked so out of place in the final four with Bret, Shawn, and Luger.
As for the Mania match with Earthquake I have no idea how that would've gone. No way Quake was losing as had just come back and was being set up for a feud with Yoko. However I can't see Borga jobbing either. Unless I guess maybe they were done pushing Borga and he was slated to job. Never heard a reason why he never returned. I know he was a problematic figure backstage so maybe they saw his injury as a way to just quietly part ways.
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hassanchop
Grimlock
Who are you to doubt Belldandy?
Posts: 14,789 
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Post by hassanchop on Aug 27, 2022 18:56:32 GMT -5
Surprised they didn't consider Bastion Booger vs Borga, since Bastion is gross, gluttonous, dirty and American, he could be everything Borga hates about America.
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XIII
Bill S. Preston, Esq.
Posts: 18,523
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Post by XIII on Aug 27, 2022 19:08:09 GMT -5
Lol no one wanted to see that mess. Even as a kid I knew that Borga was on some cornball shit and I just made fun of him.
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Post by jimmyjackezekiel on Aug 27, 2022 21:29:47 GMT -5
Shame Ahmed Johnson couldn't have been brought in a couple years earlier so he could legit injure that na** scumbag.
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tirtefaa
Unicron
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Post by tirtefaa on Aug 28, 2022 15:44:48 GMT -5
I've always thought that what killed Tatanka as a babyface wasn't losing his undefeated streak but, the fact he never got revenge on Borga for it. I mean, the obvious answer was when he turned heel. They could have easily salvaged Tatanka, but it seemed like Vince had already started cooling on him around the time Borga beat him. Maybe Vince watched his performance on Family Feud? |
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Post by jason1980s on Aug 28, 2022 16:20:09 GMT -5
It could be the simplest soultion-the original ending with Bomb may have been the original ending with Borga-a quick loss to Quake. Probably not and I'm sure the Bomb match was based on time constraints but maybe it would be a way to get rid of him while getting a name on PPV. He was above the card from Bomb.
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Post by ThankGodForSidJustice on Aug 28, 2022 16:36:23 GMT -5
It could be the simplest soultion-the original ending with Bomb may have been the original ending with Borga-a quick loss to Quake. Probably not and I'm sure the Bomb match was based on time constraints but maybe it would be a way to get rid of him while getting a name on PPV. He was above the card from Bomb. I think that him penciled into that match might have been a sign they were done with him. No way Quake was jobbing with him just coming back and being prepped for a feud with Yoko. I do have a tough time seeing Borga get squashed like Bomb did though who unlike Borga they had clearly given up on by that point (pinned by Marty Jannetty of all people at Survivor Series, weak showing in the Rumble). Borga got hurt and was gone before any potential jobbing out could happen so we'll never know. Another thing is I don't know if Borga would've went along with getting squashed. He did jobs to Luger for months on the house show circuit and at Survivor Series so I don't think losing was that big of an issue for him but getting squashed on PPV in 30 seconds might have been a different story. Him refusing I see being a possibility and then them doing the ten man tag super rushed instead or just not doing anything at all. |
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Post by The Dark Order Inferno on Aug 28, 2022 18:27:22 GMT -5
That one has always intrigued me, even back then in 1994. I'm sure Bruce would have an answer as to what the plans were but can we really believe it? I can't see Ludvig losing and I can't see Quake losing either. They should have booked Adam Bomb all along in case Ludvig couldn't still make it. But Ludvig versus Bomb wasn't as good a matchup. I also wonder why Ludvig didn't come back after his injury healed, like did WWF just release him or did he flake out and leave. They hired him based on his look, didn't notice the nazi tats until the ink was dry so they changed his attire to cover it up as much as possible and he was on thin ice. He got hurt at a time the roster was paper thin and by the time he healed they had no further use for him, as he was a racist clod everyone hated and the Luger project was over. According to Jim Ross: “Borga and Luger had a lot in common. They looked great on an 8×10. And Borga was a foreigner, he was cold as ice. […] Especially when I found out about the Nazi sh*t tattooed on his body.”
“I saw it and I talked to Vince [McMahon] and said ‘What the f*** are we doing? We got some Jewish business partners and Jewish talents and Jewish office people that if they find out about this, we’re defenceless.’ It’s not like it was drawn on with a Bic pen, it’s a tattoo, it’s permanent. And that led to him leaving our employ. He gave us another reason with the fact that he couldn’t work, he wasn’t a very good worker. But he looked great Conrad, he looked great.”
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hassanchop
Grimlock
Who are you to doubt Belldandy?
Posts: 14,789
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Post by hassanchop on Aug 28, 2022 18:45:46 GMT -5
They weren't gonna use him for his musical talent:
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Post by Milkman Norm on Aug 29, 2022 9:49:55 GMT -5
I think the plan was for Luger to do a program after WrestleMania X to keep him near the top of the card. Then I assume that Borga was return the favor to the guys that put him over on the way up. WWF ran into a few problems with this imo. The first being that the gimmicked was crap, the second being he was pretty crappy in the ring and finally that he got injured.
As for the Earthquake match, I assume that he puts Borga over at X after it's Borga, not Perfect who is involved with the finish of the Luger/Yokozuna match. No offense to Quake but he would been like the 5th or 6th level babyface. He didn't need protecting.
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Post by Milkman Norm on Aug 29, 2022 9:59:29 GMT -5
I've always thought that what killed Tatanka as a babyface wasn't losing his undefeated streak but, the fact he never got revenge on Borga for it. I mean, the obvious answer was when he turned heel. They could have easily salvaged Tatanka, but it seemed like Vince had already started cooling on him around the time Borga beat him. Maybe Vince watched his performance on Family Feud? I suspect it was a chain of events starting with Borga getting released. Bret was getting the strap but Luger still needed a big post Mania program. So they brought back Perfect to do a heel run with Luger. But then Curt left and after the KOTR period they need a fresh heel to work with Luger. So they turn Tatanka. It could have worked had the MDC not been complete losers and he done anything to change his look. |
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Post by ThankGodForSidJustice on Aug 29, 2022 15:18:57 GMT -5
I think the plan was for Luger to do a program after WrestleMania X to keep him near the top of the card. Then I assume that Borga was return the favor to the guys that put him over on the way up. WWF ran into a few problems with this imo. The first being that the gimmicked was crap, the second being he was pretty crappy in the ring and finally that he got injured. As for the Earthquake match, I assume that he puts Borga over at X after it's Borga, not Perfect who is involved with the finish of the Luger/Yokozuna match. No offense to Quake but he would been like the 5th or 6th level babyface. He didn't need protecting. No way Quake jobs as he just came back and was being set up for a feud with Yoko. I think they would at least want to keep him somewhat happy before they started having him lose which ended up being around May when they started having him lose to Yoko on house shows which led to him quitting. Luger was set to feud with Perfect after Mania stemming from him screwing Lex over by disqualifying him for no reason. However Perfect bolted again so Crush ended up getting that spot instead. So there was no reason to protect Borga as if he stuck around he wouldn't have a dance partner coming out of Mania or at least with anyone on main event level. Only thing I can think of is possibly him resuming the Tatanka feud or feuding with Razor for the IC title. Those two ended up feuding with IRS and Diesel respectively. I think there is maybe a possibility of him and Razor as there was some matches advertised between the two after Mania where Diesel ended up subbing for him. Diesel made more sense though with the Shawn connection. I can see them having Borga feud with Duke Drosse who debuted around that time as that would be a natural feud with the heel environmentalist against the face garbage man. |
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Post by Milkman Norm on Aug 29, 2022 15:35:28 GMT -5
Hypothetically why wouldn't you protect Borga? He had been brought in and teased a program with Luger after Survivor Series 93. He was likely gonna go over Tatanka again had he been healthy at the Royal Rumble and then been programed with Borga after Mania. Imo the Earthquake program was supposed a filler before he could be paired with Luger.
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thecrusherwi
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Post by thecrusherwi on Aug 29, 2022 16:05:33 GMT -5
That Borga vs Earthquake Match was actually promoted for several weeks.  I would guess the fact that they promoted this match suggests they were over Borga at this point. They brought Earthquake in because the wanted someone Yokozuna could work with after dropping the title. And the plan was for Yoko to win all those matches (it's part of the reason Tenta quit is because they were having Yoko beat him clean every night). So I would think the plan was to use this match to make Earthquake so he could keep Yoko strong. But had they had longer term plans for Borga, I would imagine a short feud with Undertaker or something along the way. I don't know. There weren't a lot of over guys and the ones who were were doing better stuff than they could have been doing with Ludvig Borga. This era is filled with a ton of flash in the pan characters. Borga likely was always meant to be one of them. |
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Post by ThankGodForSidJustice on Aug 29, 2022 16:07:13 GMT -5
Hypothetically why wouldn't you protect Borga? He had been brought in and teased a program with Luger after Survivor Series 93. He was likely gonna go over Tatanka again had he been healthy at the Royal Rumble and then been programed with Borga after Mania. Imo the Earthquake program was supposed a filler before he could be paired with Luger. Do you mean programmed with Luger after Mania? If so I already said in my post that they were obviously setting up Luger against Perfect so them going back to Luger/Borga clearly wasn't in the cards. I also don't even think it was a given that he would've beat Tatanka at Rumble. Could see Tatanka winning the singles matches and then Borga eliminating him in the Rumble to get his heat back. Basically just copy and paste with what they ended up doing with Bigelow and Tatanka. In his last televised appearance Borga interfered in a Tatanka/Jarret match that was taped before the Rumble which makes it seem that feud was supposed to drag out longer which also makes the announcement of Quake/Borga for Mania more weird. Also I don't think Quake/Borga was meant to be a program. Just one of those one off matches with no angle like they would do all the time on PPV's in the old days. I guess they could protect Borga if there were still plans. It's hard to say as Borga never came back so we have no ideas what the plans for him were. Maybe he could've been still figured in as a player. Maybe he would've fallen down the card. I think the match with Quake would've either been a double count out or Quake going over. |
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Post by sungod2020 on Aug 29, 2022 16:40:50 GMT -5
Hypothetically why wouldn't you protect Borga? He had been brought in and teased a program with Luger after Survivor Series 93. He was likely gonna go over Tatanka again had he been healthy at the Royal Rumble and then been programed with Borga after Mania. Imo the Earthquake program was supposed a filler before he could be paired with Luger. Do you mean programmed with Luger after Mania? If so I already said in my post that they were obviously setting up Luger against Perfect so them going back to Luger/Borga clearly wasn't in the cards. I also don't even think it was a given that he would've beat Tatanka at Rumble. Could see Tatanka winning the singles matches and then Borga eliminating him in the Rumble to get his heat back. Basically just copy and paste with what they ended up doing with Bigelow and Tatanka. In his last televised appearance Borga interfered in a Tatanka/Jarret match that was taped before the Rumble which makes it seem that feud was supposed to drag out longer which also makes the announcement of Quake/Borga for Mania more weird.
Also I don't think Quake/Borga was meant to be a program. Just one of those one off matches with no angle like they would do all the time on PPV's in the old days. I guess they could protect Borga if there were still plans. It's hard to say as Borga never came back so we have no ideas what the plans for him were. Maybe he could've been still figured in as a player. Maybe he would've fallen down the card. I think the match with Quake would've either been a double count out or Quake going over. I didn't know The Borga/Quake match was advertised for Mania. I thought it was just a rumor. Was his last TV appearance after the Rumble? My guess is with this newfound knowledge that the Quake/Borga match was indeed in the cards is that the blow off to the Borga/Tatanka feud would be on a RAW with Borga going over to get him ready for Quake. It still dosen't make sense with the knowledge they had at the time though. |
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